The great adventures of a w-space dweller and his alts in Eve Online.Current project: Figuring out what's new after being away for half a year.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Just like Penny

Today I felt like Penny. I log in, scan out our static with my cloaky Tengu (I know it's not a Loki, but a cloaky T3 is close enough) and take a peak inside in the hope of finding someone doing something out in the open, but no luck.

I then drop probes and scan down the four signatures that's in here; the two statics, a HS to Minmatar, a C1, one EOL C3 and the system I came from. I opt to check the C1 first. It's static is a nullsec, and is relative empty, but I spot a scanner-probe on d-scan. That's always a good sign of activity. The only POS with a forcefield up is a medium one, belonging to a 12 man corporation. It's totally without defences. I guess you don't need much living in a C1/Null, eh? :)

When I see on d-scan that the probes disappear and a Buzzard appear, I note that the ship do not land in the POS. I sort of assume that it's someone from nullsec and not the inhabitants of this system. Nullsecc'ers often like to use w-space as easy routes to empire. I jump back to the C2 and there I find the probes again. Ok, now the scout will find the HS, jump out to check exactly where it is (thanks to Tiger Ears, most educated people can now place a WH reasonably well, just from the colour) and then, with a little luck (s)he will jump strait back, getting polarized. And with even more luck (s)he will end up within non cloaking range from the wormhole. I would then possibly have time to lock it up and kill it. That is, if I was uncloaked, ready, and with my sensor booster running. Maybe. Just maybe.

It's worth a shoot at least, so I warp to the high-sec hole and waited for the scout to find it and do as I predicted. Which (s)he did, but then he (s)he did not jump back in. Bah... When I checked the info on the guy I realized it was actually not a null inhabitant at all, but instead he was coming from the POS in the C1. Well, that changes little, because if you live in such a system you don't get high-sec connections everyday, so there's a good chance this is a scout for some hauler, like you see from null so often.

I hardly had time to think that thought through, before a Tayra (or a Badger Mk II as us oldtimers like to think of it) pops up on scan. And then promptly lands on the highsec and jumps out. Right before my cloaked eyes. Well, are they going out they most likely are going to come back in. I just switch my target-focus from an unlucky (he had to be really unlucky for me to catch it) Buzzard to a Badg... Tayra. I simply change the position of the planed gank to their system. Now that I know where they are going there's no need to try and kill something on a hopeless HS hole.

I warp the Tengu back to their C1 system and jump through. Nothing on scan. The two pilots I've seen so far are probably the only ones active, but you never know. In any case, I have no reason to think they have eyes on this hole. I re-cloak and starts to wait for the scout and the Tayra. To catch and tackle your prey just when it jumped through a hole is advantageous because once tackled, their only option is to jump back and get polarized. Me on the other hand can not only follow, but also, if something bad would happen, jump a second time.

However, while staring at the hole I begin to think I might made a tactical error. Do I de-cloak directly on wormhole fire? What if the scout jumped first? But not de-cloaking until you see the hauler have it's dangers also since there's a delay after de-cloak during you can't get a lock. I have a sensor-booster, which mean the lock time itself will not be long, but that cloak delay... I would hate to see such a simple target as a hauler get away just because I did not de-cloak in time.

They also take their time getting back. What if they are getting something else in? That POS looked quite new, maybe they ware going to bring in some more ships? Forgetting I'm in a C1, my bet is a Raven. Ravens always seems to appear at wormholes in low class w-space when you least expect it. Could I take on a battleship? Sure, but it would take time and they might get reinforcements.

This is where I'm starting to stray from the Penny mindset. She always hunt alone, and when she does get help, it's from a real friend, not an alt. She's a true w-space soloist, that's one thing that make her adventures so interesting.

I brought Tashi. He had just discovered the joys of large lasers and burned for the chance to test his Oracles pulses on something other than the Angels in our nullsec connection. Since the Oracle is not very cloaky, I had to hide him somewhere, and why not in plain view? The idea was to simply get him into highsec and off grid with the wormhole. With the help of local and a narrow scan towards the hole, he would be a great early warning system to both the fact they where incoming and what they were flying.

Unfortunately I had been to slow in my thought process, because when he lands on the highsec he just have time to see the backside of the Tayra (new name, same ugly behind) warping to their C1. Oh man... Well, no rest for the wicked. Tashi does an U-turn on the hole and warps right after the hauler. He lands on the C1 but no sight of the Tayra. Quick, quick! Jumpy, jumpy. On the other side he make contact, lock the ship up and with just two or three salvos he recycle the Caldari vessel into space dust. No point even needed. Well, that did not make the enthusiasm for lasers any less.

Tashi now have a new proverb; If you need a point, you don't have enough dps.